


Tingles Down the Back of My Spine...

by thesterekshipper



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: ASMR, Alex Mercer Has Anxiety (Julie and the Phantoms), Fluff, M/M, ghosts can sleep now, juke is very minor, post last episode, sweetheart willie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:21:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28399143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesterekshipper/pseuds/thesterekshipper
Summary: Alex has too much anxiety to sleep. Can Willie help out?
Relationships: Alex Mercer & Julie Molina, Alex Mercer & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie Peters, Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Luke Patterson/Julie Molina (minor)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 110





	Tingles Down the Back of My Spine...

**Author's Note:**

> listen I know I should be working on the sequels to all my other works but i couldn't help this one okay don't shame me  
> but new record of writing!! this took me exactly one hour and three minutes, so there is bound to be mistakes because I have no beta and needed to get this out. so enjoy!!

Ever since the night at the Orpheum, strange things have been happening to the phantoms. Julie could touch them now, and that was great. Alex yearned for hugs, and since neither of his friends would indulge in his need for touch, Julie was more than happy to oblige. Julie and Alex had a morning routine of a hug, then a hug when she got back from school, then a hug before she went to her bedroom to go to sleep. Alex could tell that it was starting to frustrate Luke and his unhidden jealousy. 

Speaking of sleep, that was another thing. The boys had to  _ sleep  _ now. They apparently hadn’t graduated to being able to eat yet, which upset Reggie, as all he wanted was  _ one slice! One slice of delicious pepperoni pizza is all I’m asking for— _

But sleep, yes. It had been almost two weeks, and at first, they thought that the strength of the jolts and the major Orpheum gig had worn them out, so they didn’t think anything of it on that first night of sleep. But now, fourteen days later and still tired, Julie and her Phantoms were getting concerned about these side effects. Alex (partly out of the sheer need to see his crush and the other part out of growing anxiety) found Willie in hopes that he might know what was happening to him and his friends. 

Although Willie had no clue what to do about the boys’ sleeping problems, he and Alex did share their feelings and a chaste kiss. Alex was still riddled with anxiety, but now he had a boyfriend. Yay!

That brings us to the studio, where the three boys were falling into their respective sleeping places throughout the studio. They had let Reggie take the couch (because they really couldn’t say no to him), and Luke and Alex had two air mattresses that Julie had smuggled from the storage closet in her house all the way out to the studio. Luke had settled his mattress parallel from the couch and on the other side of the coffee table. 

Alex, not being able to stand the sound of Luke’s teeth grinding in the middle of the night, hauled his air mattress all the way up the wooden steps to the loft in the studio. He equipped himself with two heavy blankets, three pillows, and curled himself up on the mattress to try and get some sleep. He hadn’t been able to sleep more than an hour or two for the past two weeks, as his anxiety would get the better of his right before he was able to shut his brain off. He would wake up feeling awful, head pounding and eyes bleary from the lack of sleep. He knew his bandmates could tell, and he knew Willie could too by the concerned looks he gave Alex every time they met up. 

Alex could tell that Reggie and Luke had long been asleep, and turned over on his mattress once more to try and find a position he was comfortable in. After lying still for about a minute, Alex gave up and reached for his bag. He had been writing his drum beats out for a new song that Luke had introduced and figured that if he wasn’t going to sleep, he might as well be productive. 

Sighting his bag, he reached out when something inside of it caught his eye. It was a cassette tape, with a drawing of a hotdog and two drumsticks adorning the plastic in sharpie. He pulled it out of his bag and slid the paper out from the cover of the tape. It was folded up, so he moved the paper until the writing was fully revealed. 

He smiled when he saw the messy handwriting, and read the note in his head.

_ Hotdog,  _

_ I know that you haven’t been sleeping well, so I thought I would make you this recording in hopes that you can possibly get some shut-eye. Hope it helps!  _

_ From your bae, Willie :) _

Alex’s eyebrows furrowed.  _ Bae? What is that? _

He shook his head and put it to the back of his mind, searching for his Walkman and headphones. He found them under a pile of clothes and emptied the current cassette to replace it with the one Willie had snuck into his bag. Placing the headphones over his head, he sat up a little farther on the pillows and pressed play. 

The recording started out with some white noise. Alex was confused and looked at his Walkman to see if it was actually playing. Before he got the chance to press the pause, a soft voice started. 

_ “Okay,”  _ Alex gasped. He could tell it was Willie’s voice, and it sent a shiver down his spine. There was something different about his voice though, but Alex couldn’t tell what it was. Willie spoke again.  _ “So, hey. This is new for me too, so bear with me. I’m gonna go ahead and assume you’ve never heard of ASMR, so I’ll explain that first. You’re probably getting a little bit of...tingling...from listening to my voice.” _ Alex was. He hadn’t noticed it before, but there was a weird sensation running down his body.

_ “That sensation is because of ASMR, which stands for autonomous sensory meridian response, and it pretty much helps people sleep. It should start in your scalp….and then move to the back of your neck….and then to your spine...and then to the rest of your body.” _

It was like Willie was reading his mind. He placed his hand on the back of his neck and rubbed, shaking his head at the sensations that Willie was creating. 

_ “So, so, so...what I’m going to do is just some little triggers that will get those tingles going and hopefully...help you go to sleep. My microphone will also help me too…”  _ The hairs on Alex’s neck stood in anticipation.  _ “Because it’s almost as if—,”  _ Alex jumped. Willie’s voice was isolated to his left ear,  _ “—I’m right there next to you.” _ Alex craned his neck todo a circle around his body. Willie was not actually there, but it sure felt like he had been. The tingles in his neck were running rampant, and he shimmied down his mattress to place his head fully on his pillow, staring at the ceiling and listening to Willie’s voice. 

_ “So let’s find out what you like.” _ There was a slow tapping sound in the background as if someone were tapping on a glass of water, and his scalp was tingling at the sound.  _ “I know that I really like glass tapping, so I have a candle with me. It smells like...lemon. Kinda like you, actually.”  _ Alex smiled at that. His eyelids were getting heavy, so he thought it wouldn’t be bad to close them.

_ “So I’ll keep tapping on this glass. Feel free to get comfortable, by the way, and close your eyes. It’s okay if you accidentally fall asleep, that is the main goal after all…” _

Willie had a point. He could feel his mind drifting off. 

_ “So, so….not only do I love glass tapping, but I know for a fact that you love...kisses before you fall asleep…” _

Alex blushed at that. He remembered last week when he was so exhausted from not getting any sleep. He had been hanging out with Willie, and as soon as his boyfriend noticed his yawning, he told Alex to take a nap and that he didn’t mind. Willie gave Alex soft pecks all over his face to lull him to sleep and he managed to get a solid three hours, after which he apologized profusely to Willie after sleeping on his lap and ruining their date. 

_ “So, I’m just going to give you some kisses...and you just relax and listen.” _

And then Alex heard soft kisses being placed on the microphone. His body was going haywire. It was like he could feel the kisses being placed all over his face, almost like Willie’s soft, pink lips were touching his forehead, his nose, his eyelids, his cheeks…

_ “Sleep, Alex...sleep.” _

And with one deep breath, he fell asleep.

When he woke, the sun was harsh on his face. He turned his whole head to avoid it and pushed the blankets off of his body. Making his way down to the main part of the studio, he noticed that Luke and Reggie were nowhere to be found. He poofed into the Molina’s kitchen, where he found his other three bandmates discussing their new gig. 

Julie walked over to him, juice in hand, and gave him his morning hug. “You slept in. Feel okay?”

Alex nodded. “Definitely better. I actually got about…,” he looked at the microwave clock, “...nine hours of sleep.”

Luke set his lyric book down. “Yeah, I came up there to check on you, but you were sound asleep and had headphones on, so I took them off of you. What were you listening to that bored you to sleep so bad?” Luke said with a smile.

Alex blushed, remembering what he had listened to. “Ah, just an old recording.”

He really loved his boyfriend. 

**Author's Note:**

> I know the ending sucks, sorry. but I love kudos and comments, so... ;)


End file.
